1. Field of the Inventive Subject Matter
The inventive subject matter relates to the field of electronic inventory control and tracking. In particular, the present invention relates to controlling and tracking livestock inventory items throughout the supply chain, from the birth of an animal to the sale of an animal product to the consumer. The inventive subject matter permits the development of animal product brands and/or marks, and provides a higher degree of source knowledge and producer accountability than has previously been available.
2. Background
Many enterprises have a great need for controlling and tracking an inventory item which is a tangible or intangible stock or object of the enterprise. Exemplary enterprises include, but are not limited to, retailers, developers, manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers, carriers, government agencies and entities, and other organizations. An exemplary inventory item includes, but is not limited to, a raw material or component, a work in process, a product, a commodity, a good, or another item.
Traditionally, inventory control has been done by the company or organization using the items in the inventory. In smaller businesses, inventory control and tracking is typically not a high priority, and orders may be placed whenever items are out of stock.
As a business increases in size, inventory management becomes more of a challenge, and monitoring and tracking of frequently used or crucial items becomes very important. Typically a person is given the responsibility of monitoring and tracking inventory, and ordering replacements as supply diminishes. As a company further increases in size, more advanced inventory management and tracking techniques may be used. For example, supply and usage trends may be analyzed to determine minimum quantities on hand, and seasonal or other peak usage may be determined.
Some larger businesses have switched to automated or semi-automated inventory tracking systems. These automated systems may utilize barcode scanners or other electronic identifiers to track outgoing and incoming inventory, and can prepare purchase requests as supplies diminish.
In relation to food, and particularly livestock, the search, for example, for the birthplace of the cows whose meat went into a particular pound of hamburger or for the farms that grew the wheat used in a box of cereal may on first glance seem superfluous. But U.S. ranchers, farmers, food manufacturers, developers, and their distributors have three primary incentives to keep records tracking food production and distribution: improving supply-side management; differentiating and marketing foods with subtle or undetectable quality attributes; and facilitating traceback for food safety and quality. Such records provide information on the flow of food and food products throughout the U.S. food supply system and aid in tracking food to its source.
These three objectives have generated a widespread need for efficient and effective traceability systems. Yet the prior art has not provided a solution which encompasses the necessary depth and range of inventory control. For example, a traceability system for food safety, the depth of the traceability system depends on where hazards and remedies can enter the food production chain. For some health hazards, such as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, ensuring food safety requires establishing safety measures at the farm. For other health hazards, such as bacterial pathogens, firms need to establish critical control points along the entire production and distribution chain.
Similarly, a traceability system for coffee would extend back to the processing stage; for fair-trade coffee would extend to information on price and terms of trade between coffee growers and processors; for fair wage would extend to harvest; for shade-grown, to cultivation; and for non-genetically engineered, to the bean or seed.
Traceability systems are a tool to help firms manage the flow of inputs and products to improve efficiency, differentiate products, maintain food safety, and maintain product quality. However, to be most effective, a traceability system must be paired with an inventory-control system, such as a real-time delivery system.
A common characteristic, and limitation, of the prior art inventory management and tracking techniques and systems is that they are not focused on inventory management and tracking techniques and systems that relate to a broad scope coverage in an inventory chain or supply channel. Conversely, the inventive subject matter provides accurate and current inventory auditing, accurate demand-driven forecasting based on accurate and current inventory audit information, and end-to-end inventory tracking in a chain of possession or a supply channel.
In meeting this need in the livestock industry, the inventive systems, the inventive methods, and the inventive computer software products track individual livestock inventory items at given time(s), using periodic survey(s), and/or scan-in/scan-out accounting, throughout a chain of possession or a supply channel. Thus, the inventive subject matter provides accurate and current inventory auditing, provides more accurate demand-driven forecasting based on accurate and current inventory audit information, and provides end-to-end inventory tracking in a chain of possession or a supply channel.